39. "i was silent during the tours" In response to In response to 34
and cried after when i was alone.
but mostly i was filled w/pride. it hit me as i stood in Ghana looking through a Door of No Return that my ppl - the ones who survived - went through absolute terror and came out on the other side. when so many couldn't survive my ppl survived. and some would say they thrived, even. either way - they made it. as i stood there i didn't know if *i* could make it - from the march to the coast (in chains and being beaten) to being held in dungeons for months to being loaded on ships and then that journey across the ocean for months and THEN the plantation horrors. *i* wouldn't have made it. so those who made it must've been special. and that's what's in my genes. that's who i come from - ppl who survived terror. the mental and physical fortitude they had...i was awed by it as i stood in that dungeon under the slave castle. and i didn't cry then but when it all hit me afterward i lost it. i tear up now just typing this. i dunno that i can convey all that i felt then.